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Are you more of an old-timer, Bobby Orr or Gordie Howe fan? Just wondering.

I never saw Gordie Howe in his prime. I saw Bobby Orr in his prime when I was small and even though I was never a Bobby Orr or Boston Bruins fan, looking back over the past four decades I can't think of another player who (a) changed the way the game was played and (b) made his team that much better all by himself quite like Orr did.

Realistically, if you look past the scoring stats and ask what it takes to win Stanley Cups then it becomes all about the goaltenders. Even the Gretzky era Oilers had Grant Fuhr and the Lemieux era Penguins had Tom Barasso, two outstanding goaltenders in their day. All-time greats like Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur each won multiple Stanley Cups with otherwise ordinary teams.

Gretzky and Lemieux were very great players who had a tremendous impact on the game. If you want to talk about the greatest of all time those two have to be the first two players you think of. But it's hard to compare players of different eras and different positions, and the conversation doesn't begin and end with Gretzky and Lemieux._________________
The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong. — Ecclesiastes 9:11

Neither Gretzky nor Lemieux was particularly renowned for their willingness to back-check or dig the puck out of the corner. Both of them feuded with coaches as a result. Both of them were surrounded with other playmakers who were great in their own right. Which is my problem with anointing either Gretzky or Lemieux as the most dominant player of all time.

The fact that Gretzky, Lemieux and Jagr between them won every single scoring title over a 20-year period is a staggering fact. But there's more to playing winning hockey than racking up point totals. Especially at playoff time when the games invariably come down to goaltending.

Yes, but being a team sport, I really see dominance as more of match-up dominance instead of team dominance. The same way with baseball and pitching, goalies can take over a playoff series by themselves. The sport is much more conducive to one player who can completely shut down scoring having a control over the game. But Gretzky and Lemieux could take over an entire game by themselves, a rarity in skaters.